APOD: 2012 January 24 – January Aurora Over Norway.

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

The Aurora from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

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I spent a week capturing one of the biggest aurora borealis shows in recent years.

Shot in and around Kirkenes and Pas National Park bordering Russia, at 70 degree north and 30 degrees east. Temperatures around -25 Celsius. Good fun.

via Phil Plait @ BadAstronomer blog

Photographer Mark Laita has taken his superb eye beneath the waves to focus on the extraordinary creatures who inhabit the depths of the vast ocean. The collection which came out of these brilliant images is entitled Sea, and its purpose was to show “the grace and diversity of sea creatures reflected against the surface of their world.” Laita has succeeded in bringing the wonderment of the ocean and it’s mysterious creatures to life by taking these brightly colored subjects and placing them against a stark black backdrop, which helps to intensify the viewing experience.

via Grace and Diversity in Underwater Photography.

Aurora over Norway

APOD: 2012 January 3 – A Full Sky Aurora Over Norway.

Phil Plait comments:

How amazing is that? It’s no coincidence he got the Moon to pass right behind the narrow pyramid of the Transamerica Building like that. According to the description on the YouTube page, he used some software to find the position of the Moon at various times, including the altitude (its distance above the horizon). Knowing the height of the building, he could then figure out how far away he had to be for the top of the building to be at that same altitude (it’s just a bit of trig). Then it was just a matter of finding a good spot using Google Earth — of course, accuracy is an issue. If the Moon was only 20 degrees off the horizon, then, given the 260 meter height of the building he had to be within about 10 meters of the right spot (about 715 meters from the building) or the Moon would miss. The lower the Moon, the less accurate he needed to be. Still. Nicely done.

via Lunar eclipse time lapse | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine.

This may singularly define what it is like to live in the future now. I look at the video, I know it’s from actual photographs stiched into a time-lapse sequence, and yet I still think “Wow, that’s an excellent CGI movie of traveling around the earth.” I’m so strange sometimes.

via Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS on Vimeo.

Do watch this in HD and full-screen. It is so worth it!!

The UK Royal Observatory holds an annual astronomy photography contest, and this year’s winners and runners-up are quite spectacular.

The categories are:

• Earth and Space
• Our Solar System
• Deep Space
• Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year
• Best Newcomer
• People and Space
• Robotic Scope

2011 Overall Winner for UK Royal Observatory Astronomy Picture of the Year by Damien Peach of Jupiter with Io and Ganymede